South Carolina tops USA TODAY Sports/WBCA Preseason Top 25 Coaches Poll

(Hoopfeed.com is a member of the USA TODAY Sports Media Group).

The USA TODAY Sports women’s basketball coaches poll is conducted weekly throughout the regular season using a panel of head coaches at Division I schools. The panel is chosen by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association. The members represent each of the 32 Division I conferences that receive an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Each coach submits a Top 25 with a first-place vote worth 25 points, second place 24, and so on down to one point for 25th.

Rank School (record) Points Last year’s final rank First-place votes
1 South Carolina (26-5) 768 4 13
2 – tie Stanford (31-2) 763 1 13
2 – tie Connecticut (28-2) 763 3 6
4 North Carolina State (22-3) 670 7 0
5 Maryland (26-3) 661 9 0
6 Louisville (26-4) 642 6 0
7 Indiana (21-6) 558 8 0
8 Baylor (28-3) 495 5 0
9 Oregon (15-9) 475 15 0
10 Michigan (16-6) 470 11 0
11 Iowa (20-10) 440 19 0
12 Tennessee (17-8) 346 16 0
13 Kentucky (18-9) 322 21 0
14 UCLA (17-6) 311 12 0
15 Arizona (21-6) 277 2 0
16 Iowa State (17-11) 258 NR 0
17 Texas A&M (25-3) 251 10 0
18 Oregon State (12-8) 224 NR 0
19 Georgia (21-7) 197 13 0
20 Georgia Tech (17-9) 192 22 0
21 Texas (21-10) 180 17 0
22 South Florida (19-4) 169 18 0
23 West Virginia (22-7) 165 24 0
24 Florida State (10-9) 157 NR 0
25 Ohio State (13-7) 128 NR 0

Dropped out: No. 14 Missouri State (23-3); No. 20 Gonzaga (23-4); No. 23 Arkansas (19-9); No. 25 Florida Gulf Coast (26-3) 54.

Others receiving votes: Missouri State (23-3) 112; Gonzaga (23-4) 59; Virginia Tech (15-10) 56; Florida Gulf Coast (26-3) 54; Arkansas (19-9) 53; Michigan State (15-9) 28; Rutgers (14-5) 17; Stephen F. Austin (24-3) 16; LSU (9-13) 13; Northwestern (16-9) 13; South Dakota State (21-4) 13; Washington State (12-12) 13; Brigham Young (19-6) 11; North Carolina (13-11) 11; Central Florida (16-5) 8; Colorado (12-11) 8; DePaul (14-10) 5; Mississippi (15-12) 5; Belmont (21-6) 4; Delaware (24-5) 4; Oklahoma (12-12) 4; Notre Dame (10-10) 3; South Dakota (19-6) 3; Houston (17-8) 2; IUPUI (15-5) 1; Seton Hall (14-7) 1; Virginia (0-5) 1.

The USA TODAY Sports Board of Coaches is made up of 32 head coaches at Division I institutions. All are members of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association. The board for the 2021-22 season: Ganiyat Adeduntan, Colgate; Suzy Barcomb, Seattle; Fred Batchelor, Maryland-Eastern Shore; Matt Bollant, Eastern Illinois; Dan Burt, Duquesne; Jeff Cammon, Long Beach State; Jamie Craighhead, San Jose State; Megan Duffy, Marquette; Nancy Fahey, Illinois; Ronny Fisher, Campbell; Lisa Fortier, Gonzaga; Robyn Fralick, Bowling Green; Andrea Gorski, Bradley; Carey Green, Liberty; Simon Harris, East Tennessee State; Chris Kielsmeier, Cleveland State; Monique LeBlanc, Brown; Amy Mallon, Drexel; Lynn Milligan, Rider; Jalie Mitchell, North Texas; Mike Neighbors, Arkansas; Raegan Pebley, TCU; DoBee Plaisance, Nicholls State; Margaret Richards, Alabama A&M; Lynne Roberts, Utah; Seton Sobolewski, Idaho State; Lisa Stockton, Tulane; Angelika Szumilo, Fairleigh Dickinson; Amy Vachon, Maine; Jeff Walz, Louisville; Jaida Williams, Coastal Carolina; Doshia Woods, Denver.

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